


little pup

by kihyuks



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Getting Together, Hybrids, M/M, Sharing a Bed, half is told before they're together and half after, they're both dog hybrids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25145659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: the five times minhyuk helps changkyun and the one time changkyun helps minhyuk instead.(or, two pup hybrid neighbours fall in love.)
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Minhyuk
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	little pup

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this bc i saw a photo of minhyuk w dog ears whenever it was i wrote this like a month ago or whatever and thus this was born hhefhjf also when i edited this i had to fix changkyun's name like 12 times bc i kept typing chankgyun for some reason so if anyone spots another typo that i missed lmk

**i.**

Noise from outside in the corridor drifts into Minhyuk’s flat and his ears perk up on his head at the sound. He hears muffled talking, some laughter, and a thumping sound against the floor every so often. Curious, he inches closer to his door to try and listen better, but even with his heightened hearing, he can’t make out much of what’s going on outside. 

Minhyuk peeks through his peephole and spies someone walking up the stairs, a large cardboard box in their hands. Instinctively, Minhyuk ducks to avoid being seen, then laughs at himself at the ridiculousness of his actions. He’s behind his front door, who’s going to see him?

Minhyuk peeks out again, and his peephole doesn’t give him the clearest view of what’s going on outside, but from what he can make out it appears that someone is moving into the empty flat next door. Is he finally going to have a neighbour?

Being the eager, overly excitable pup that he is, Minhyuk can’t help but open his door and bound up to his new neighbour upon realising that they’re moving in. 

It’s only when he’s right in front of said new neighbour, his hand stuck out, that Minhyuk’s notices the grey fluffy ears on the man’s head as well as an equally as fluffy grey tail swishing slowly behind him. His neighbour seems to be a dog hybrid, just like Minhyuk is. 

“Hi, neighbour,” Minhyuk says enthusiastically, his tail wagging just as enthusiastically behind him.

New neighbour looks at Minhyuk curiously, a tilt to his head, but takes Minhyuk’s hand and shakes it anyway, albeit slightly cautiously. “Hi.”

“Sorry if it’s weird to approach you like this,” Minhyuk says, “but I heard noises and I had to come investigate to see who it is moving in.”

The man still looks slightly nervous? Uncomfortable? Minhyuk can’t really tell, but he notices that as soon as the man’s eyes flicker to the floppy golden ears on Minhyuk’s head and then down to the tail waving eagerly behind him, his posture relaxes. “Oh, don’t worry, I get it. It’s not weird.”

It is weird, Minhyuk knows that, but he appreciates that his neighbour is trying not to insult him upon their first meeting. “I’m Minhyuk, by the way.”

“Changkyun.”

Minhyuk smiles, glad to put a name to the face in front of him. “So, Changkyun, do you need any help with your boxes?” 

Minhyuk doesn’t expect a yes - he’s used to a polite no whenever he offers to do something for someone, often putting people off with his enthusiasm and excitement - but Changkyun doesn’t decline. “That’d be nice, actually. I’m bringing all the boxes up the stairs at the moment. If I carry them up and put them at the top of the stairs could you carry them into my flat, please?” Changkyun gestures to the open door behind him as if Minhyuk wouldn’t know which flat is his, but Minhyuk doesn’t comment on it. 

“Sure, no problem,” Minhyuk agrees with probably a little bit too much enthusiasm in his voice. 

They work swiftly to get the job done - Changkyun carrying the boxes from the bottom of the stairs to the top and then Minhyuk transporting them inside the flat. He doesn’t know if there’s a specific place Changkyun wants everything, so he just stacks everything neatly in the main room. 

When all of the boxes are moved from the truck downstairs into Changkyun’s flat, Changkyun says, “Thank you for the help. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. I like helping.” It’s the truth, in fact. Minhyuk loves to help people, he always has done. He feels good when he’s able to make someone else’s day a bit brighter, a bit easier, have any positive impact, no matter how small. He strives to brighten at least one person’s day every single day of his life, and apparently it’s Changkyun’s turn today. “Do you need help moving them to specific rooms or anything?”

“I got it covered, don’t worry,” Changkyun says. “Would you like a cup of tea, or something, though? As a thanks.”

“Ooh, yes, please.” Minhyuk would never turn down a cup of tea. 

Changkyun leads Minhyuk to his partially furnished kitchen, much emptier looking than Minhyuk’s own, and flicks on the kettle, grabs two mugs out of a cupboard as well as tea bags. 

“Are you extremely prepared to make tea or did the previous tenant leave that here?” Minhyuk asks. 

Changkyun chuckles lightly. “This was all my mum’s doing. She said the most important thing to have prepared when moving into a new place is your kettle and your tea bags, but I guess she was right.”

“I’ll keep that advice in mind,” Minhyuk jokes. He’s too curious not to ask, so he says, “What type of hybrid are you? Sorry if it’s, like, too personal. I’m just super nosy.”

“A weird mix of wolf and dog,” Changkyun says. “And you? Dog, I assume?”

“Golden retriever,” Minhyuk says proudly. He’s always loved to be able to tell people exactly what breed he is, even when no one really asked. “It’s weird, you’d think that dog hybrids would be easier to find than they are, but you’re the first one I’ve met in forever.”

Changkyun fills the mugs now that the kettle’s finally boiled and brings both over to the table where Minhyuk’s sitting before sitting down himself. “God, tell me about it.” Changkyun takes a sip of his tea and hisses as soon as he does so. “This is hot.”

“Of course it is, you just boiled the kettle,” Minhyuk says with a laugh. “Impatient, or do you just really love tea?”

“Well, I guess you’ll find that out as we get to know each other,” Changkyun says with a wink added at the end for effect. 

“I look forward to getting to know you, then, Changkyun.”

And Minhyuk means it. 

* * *

**ii.**

There’s a low growl through the wall, so quiet that Minhyuk almost thinks he imagined it.

Maybe he did imagine it. 

Minhyuk freezes, still as a statue, and listens, ears perked, to see if he can hear anything else. A minute or so passes before he hears it again, another quiet, but angry, growl coming from Changkyun’s flat. 

Cautiously, he approaches his front door and checks to see that there’s nothing suspicious outside in the corridor, but he sees nothing to alarm him. He leaves his flat and knocks on Changkyun’s door, bouncing on his feet as he waits for an answer. 

The door flies open to reveal a rather flustered looking Changkyun. “Minhyuk? What are you doing here? Did I forget our plans again?”

“No, no. No plans,” Minhyuk quickly clarifies. Changkyun’s guilt for oversleeping and forgetting that he and Minhyuk had made plans to go out for coffee together hasn’t left him apparently, despite it happening over a month ago, and despite Minhyuk insisting that he doesn’t mind. “I just— I heard weird growling from your flat and I wanted to check you’re alright?” Now that he says it, Minhyuk begins to doubt that he even heard anything in the first place. It was probably just his imagination, and he goes to say so, but the pink now plastered across Changkyun’s face stops him. “Changkyun? What is it?”

Changkyun shakes his head and mumbles something under his breath, but he clearly took into account Minhyuk’s heightened sense of hearing because he managed to say it so quietly that Minhyuk couldn’t make out a single word of it. 

“Kyunnie?” Minhyuk prompts again, bringing out the nickname that he’s begun to use to tease Changkyun ever since they became friends, but this time he doesn’t use it to tease him. He really just wants to know what went on.

“I saw a spider,” Changkyun finally says, refusing to meet Minhyuk’s eyes. His ears are flattened against his head and his tail is limp between his legs. “I don’t like spiders.”

Minhyuk feels an emotion close to fondness when Changkyun says this. He’s been trying to fight his small, but blooming crush on the other ever since having met him, but how can he fight it when Changkyun’s just so damn adorable? “You’re cute,” Minhyuk says, reaching out to ruffle Changkyun’s hair between his ears. “But now I’m here to save you from the big scary spider. Where is it?”

Changkyun doesn’t look pleased at Minhyuk’s teasing, but he leads Minhyuk through to his bedroom anyway and points over at one of the walls. 

There’s a huge spider on there, bigger than any Minhyuk’s ever seen before, and he gulps when he sees it. “That’s… one rather large spider,” he comments. 

“I told you,” Changkyun says

But no. No, he didn’t. He mentioned the spider, yes, but not how outrageously huge it happens to be. All of Minhyuk’s confidence fades away now that he’s actually face to face with the cause of Changkyun’s growling. If he’d have known before coming in here just how big it is, he’s not sure he would’ve offered to be Changkyun’s saviour, but he can’t back down now. 

“Okay, I need a glass and some paper,” Minhyuk says, his eyes not leaving the spider for a second. He refuses to let it out of his sight. “Can you grab some?”

“Sure.” And then Changkyun is gone, leaving Minhyuk alone with the enemy. 

It feels like a stand-off to Minhyuk. His ears are pinned back on his head, and he’s in an offensive stance as if ready to pounce any second. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the spider is mimicking him, ready to attack him if he attacks it.

“Are you, like, trying to fight the spider?” Changkyun asks as he returns to the room and hands the glass and paper that he’d been tasked to find over to Minhyuk. He seems surprisingly relaxed now that Minhyuk’s here. 

“I’m making sure it doesn’t bite me,” Minhyuk says as he stalks over to the other side of the room, glass at the ready to trap the menacing thing. He holds the glass out and snaps it against the wall, trapping the spider inside before it even has a chance to realise what’s going on. He slides the paper under it, then sliding his hand under that and practically runs out of Changkyun’s flat and down the stairs to let the spider free out of the front of their building.

When he returns to Changkyun’s flat with the now empty glass, Changkyun’s leaning against the doorframe with a smirk on his face. “My hero,” he says. “My knight in shining armour, one could say.”

“You’re a dick, you know that?” Minhyuk says, but he’s smiling too. The situation is so utterly ridiculous that it’s impossible not to smile, really. “Next time you have a spider in your room you can get rid of it yourself. I never want to do that again.”

“Are you admitting that you, Lee Minhyuk,” Changkyun pauses for effect, to build anticipation for what’s coming next, as if Minhyuk didn’t predict the words about to come out of his mouth as soon as the first word of the sentence was spoken, “are a coward?”

“Say that again, little pup,” Minhyuk says, “and you’ll regret it.”

Changkyun raises an eyebrow. He takes a step closer to Minhyuk daringly. “Will I, now? What are you going to do?”

Minhyuk can hear the challenge in his voice, and he’s never one to back down from a challenge.

But then he gets distracted by the smell of burning. Coming from  _ his _ flat. 

“My pizza!” Minhyuk screams and the moment is broken as he runs back to rescue his poor pizza that he forgot he’d even put in the oven with Changkyun and the spider distracting him.

(His pizza doesn’t get saved, unfortunately, but Minhyuk leaves it on the counter for a few days, ignoring that it’s stinking up his whole flat, because going to the bins outside means he might have to face his enemy once again.

He might see the spider.)

* * *

**iii.**

A pounding on Minhyuk’s door brings him out of his slumber. He blinks his bleary eyes, wondering who would possibly need him at - he checks the time - 3 in the morning. 

The knocking ceases and Minhyuk lies his head back down on his pillow, glad that whoever it is has given up so Minhyuk can get back to that sleep he was enjoying so much. 

He’s almost back asleep when his phone starts ringing. Annoyed, Minhyuk grabs his phone without checking the caller and answers with a, “What is it?”

“I’m sorry,” comes Changkyun’s voice on the other end, and instantly Minhyuk’s anger fades away. “I’ve looked everywhere but I can’t find my keys and I have nowhere to go so I wanted to see if I could come in. I’m sorry for waking you.”

He sounds so sad and nervous that Minhyuk knows he wouldn’t be able to say no even if he wanted to (which he doesn’t). 

“I’ll come let you in.”

Changkyun thanks him again before hanging up.

Minhyuk finds Changkyun at his door, absolutely soaked from head to toe, looking rather sorry for himself. Minhyuk ushers him inside and grabs a towel from his bathroom, putting it over Changkyun’s shoulders and attempting to dry his hair and ears. “Why didn’t you tell me it was raining?”

“I don’t know.” Changkyun is pouting now. “I’m dripping all over your floor. I’m sorry.”

Minhyuk looks down at the puddle of water that’s forming at Changkyun’s feet, but he doesn’t care. “It’s more important that you dry off. Get those wet clothes off, I’ll grab you something else to change into.”

Changkyun, shyly, says, “Change? In front of you?”

“I can leave the room,” Minhyuk offers. “But you can’t stay in those clothes. Look, you’re shivering. You’ll get a cold.”

Changkyun doesn’t look sure, but he nods anyway.

Minhyuk goes to his room to find some clothes for Changkyun, picking out an old oversized t-shirt, a pair of shorts he doesn’t wear and some underwear that’s been sitting brand new, unused in the packet for far too long now. When he returns to his living room where he left Changkyun, he finds Changkyun’s wet clothes are now in a pile on the floor and he’s got the towel wrapped around his waist. 

Minhyuk resolutely doesn’t look at Changkyun’s bare chest and hands the clothes to him before turning his back to Changkyun to give him privacy to change. 

“Okay, done,” Changkyun says. He holds out his bundle of clothes to Minhyuk when he turns around. “What do I do with these?”

“I’ll go hang them to dry in the bathroom. You can go wait in my room, if you want?”

Changkyun nods, hands the clothes over and then leaves to Minhyuk’s room.

Minhyuk hangs up the clothes in the bathroom as he said he would, then heads into his room too, where Changkyun’s standing in the middle of the room looking awkward. “Why didn’t you sit down?” Minhyuk asks.

“My tail is still wet. I didn’t want to get your bed wet.” Sure enough, Changkyun’s tail is still dripping, as is his hair. 

Minhyuk digs out his old hair dryer and gets to work drying off Changkyun’s tail, keeping the heat on low as Minhyuk knows how horrible it feels to have hot air against your tail, and then makes Changkyun sit down on the bed so he can get to his hair easier. Carefully, Minhyuk dries Changkyun’s hair and his ears, combing through his hair with his fingers as he goes to get any knots out (he has no idea where his hairbrush is - or if he even owns one anymore).

When Minhyuk’s done, he realises that Changkyun’s got his eyes closed, a content smile on his face. 

“Come on, let’s get some sleep,” Minhyuk says. 

“Here? Together?”

“I can go sleep on the sofa, if you want.” Minhyuk makes to leave, but Changkyun grabs his wrist to stop him. 

“Stay.”

And who could really say no to Changkyun’s pleading eyes?

So, Minhyuk stays. It takes a few minutes for both of them to figure out a comfortable position in the bed, but when they do Minhyuk finds that he can’t even fall asleep. He’s far too alert and awake with another presence beside him.

“Are you awake?” Changkyun whispers after a few moments of silence. 

“Yes,” Minhyuk replies. 

“Is it okay if you—” He cuts himself off and Minhyuk can feel the nervousness emanating off him in waves, even if he can’t see Changkyun’s face in the dark. 

“Is it okay if I what?” Minhyuk encourages. 

“Can you hold me? I had a bad day. I just, I need to be held.” 

They both shuffle around until they’re both on their sides, Minhyuk’s chest pressed against Changkyun’s back. “Is this okay?” Minhyuk asks.

“Yeah,” Changkyun replies, and within seconds Minhyuk feels the way his body completely relaxes and his breathing evens out as he falls asleep. 

Into the darkness of the room, Minhyuk smiles. 

* * *

**iv.**

“Minhyuk, help me,” Changkyun whines from across the room. 

Minhyuk looks up from his sketchpad to see Changkyun making his usual face - a pout with puppy dog eyes (which he unsurprisingly manages perfectly) - and he does his best to resist his boyfriend and focus on his drawing once again, he really does, but as it turns out, Minhyuk is extremely whipped for Changkyun. 

He shuts his sketchpad with a sigh and says, “What do you need help with?”

Changkyun, clearly pleased that Minhyuk’s attention is now completely on him, practically skips from the sofa he was sitting on to the table that Minhyuk’s sitting at and plops himself down in Minhyuk’s lap. He wraps his arms around Minhyuk’s neck and smiles.

Minhyuk prepares himself for a ridiculous proposition, one that will make him regret asking in the first place. 

But surprisingly, that’s not what comes at all. “I don’t know what to get my mum for her birthday. Can you help?”

Minhyuk blinks at Changkyun like he’s speaking a foreign language, then says, “Sure?”

“Great.” Changkyun pecks Minhyuk’s lips then jumps up from his lap and heads towards the door. 

Minhyuk is dumbfounded. “Where are you going?”

“To the shops?” Changkyun says, like it should be obvious.

“Right now?”

“No time better than the present, right?”

Minhyuk sighs, but as stated previously, he is incredibly whipped, and so his partially finished sketch is abandoned as he pulls on his coat to head out shopping with Changkyun. 

They only make it into one shop, which turns out to be a complete fail for finding presents in before Changkyun tugs Minhyuk’s hand, pulling him over to a bench. He takes a seat, not letting go of Minhyuk’s hand, forcing him to sit down next to Changkyun. 

“Why have we stopped?” Minhyuk asks. Surely Changkyun can’t be tired already?

“I don’t want to look anymore. I hate looking for presents.” There’s a whine in Changkyun’s voice that makes Minhyuk roll his eyes. 

“We’ve barely even looked.” He stands, pulls Changkyun up after him, then marches off down the street, ignoring Changkyun’s protests. “What does your mum like? Why don’t we start there?”

Changkyun hums, thinking about it, before saying, “I don’t know. Flowers?”

“Do you know what specific flowers, or just flowers in general?”

“No idea. She likes the pink ones, though.” 

Minhyuk sighs. “You’re useless, but let’s go find a florist, then.”

Luckily for them, there happens to be a florist just up ahead of them. Minhyuk does all the talking, requests a bouquet specifically for a mother with emphasis on pink flowers, and they leave, newly acquired bouquet in Minhyuk’s hand, with smiles on their faces at achieving their goal so quickly (mostly thanks to Minhyuk).

* * *

“Thank you for helping.” Changkyun murmurs into Minhyuk’s ear once they’re back in Minhyuk’s flat (which is slowly becoming Minhyuk  _ and _ Changkyun’s flat).

They’re lazing on the sofa together, Minhyuk’s hand tracing shapes into the sliver of skin that’s exposed where Changkyun’s shirt has ridden up. 

“You know I’ll always help.”

“Still. Thank you.”

Minhyuk adds the slightest bit of pressure to his fingers and feels Changkyun shiver against him. He smiles, always pleased when he can get a reaction out of his boyfriend. 

“Stop doing that,” Changkyun whispers, but Minhyuk can tell he doesn’t mean it. What he really means is  _ don’t _ stop doing that. 

Minhyuk’s hand halts, just for a second, testing Changkyun. 

Changkyun sighs, gives Minhyuk that look that he gives. That look that tells him that he’s not to be messed with. 

Minhyuk touches the pads of his fingers to Changkyun’s skin again, ever so gently, and then the next second removes his hand completely. “I should go put those flowers in some water.”

Changkyun complains about Minhyuk being a terrible boyfriend for the next ten minutes, until Minhyuk finally shuts him up with a kiss. 

* * *

**v.**

“I’m stressed. I’m so stressed.” 

“Stop pacing. You’ll be fine,” Minhyuk reassures. He holds his arms out, beckoning Changkyun to come and join him. 

Changkyun sighs, but he does as he’s told and stops pacing, sitting down in Minhyuk’s lap instead. “What if they hate me?”

“Your boss loves you from what I know,” Minhyuk reassures. He lightly kisses Changkyun’s neck. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Changkyun shakes his head. “I can’t do it. Can you please join us? I need you there.”

Minhyuk knows that Changkyun will be absolutely fine without Minhyuk by his side, knows that he’s strong enough to not need Minhyuk, but when would Minhyuk ever deny Changkyun of anything he ever asked? “Okay, fine. You’re doing all the talking though.”

“But you love talking,” Changkyun says. 

Minhyuk rolls his eyes. “Shut up.”

“Make me,” Changkyun dares, in that childish way that he loves to do. There’s never a day that goes by that Changkyun doesn’t tell Minhyuk to make him shut up. 

And Minhyuk always does. He pulls Changkyun’s head towards his own with a gentle hand on the back of his neck. He doesn’t even have to try, really, because Changkyun is more than willing to lean down and kiss Minhyuk. 

Changkyun’s arms start on Minhyuk’s shoulders as they kiss, but they slowly creep up, up, up.

Minhyuk breaks it off. “No messing up my hair before this dinner,” he warns.

Changkyun has that look in his eye that tells Minhyuk he’s not going to listen. Changkyun never listens, really, even when it’s to his own benefit. 

“What time are they coming?” Minhyuk asks instead, trying to distract himself from the swollen pink lips before him. 

“At 6:00.”

Minhyuk looks at the clock. “It’s 5:55.”

Changkyun goes running to his flat, Minhyuk not far behind him, but he’s too late. There are already two men standing at his door, waiting.

Changkyun approaches them and says apologetically, “I’m sorry. I was at my boyfriend’s,” he gestures to Minhyuk behind him, “and lost track of time. Come in.”

It’s only after the four of them are seated at Changkyun’s dining table, their food out in front of them (which Changkyun is pretending he’s cooked, but the bag from the delivery still sitting out on the counter gives him away instantly) that Minhyuk finally takes a look at the two men sitting across from him. 

“Kihyun?” he asks in disbelief. 

Kihyun smiles and gives a small wave with one hand. “I was waiting for you to notice. Hi, Minhyuk.”

Changkyun looks between the two of them, confused. “You know each other?”

“We were friends? Kinda?” Minhyuk says, because he doesn’t know how to describe his relationship with Kihyun. All they ever did was argue back when they lived in the same halls at university. Maybe enemy would be more accurate. 

“Oh, you’re  _ that _ Minhyuk,” the man to Kihyun’s left says. Changkyun’s boss, Hoseok, and apparently Kihyun’s boyfriend. 

Minhyuk narrows his eyes at Kihyun. “What did you say about me?”

“Nothing incriminating.” But even as he says it, there’s that sly smile on his face and a twitch of the pointed ears on his head that tells Minhyuk that maybe that’s not quite the truth. 

“You’re a sneaky little fox. I don’t trust you.”

Kihyun smiles at that, pleased. “You shouldn’t.”

It’s easy to fall back into their old habits, and Minhyuk barely holds back a snarl and an insult, but he does it because he knows better than to show Changkyun up in front of his boss. 

Minhyuk gives Changkyun’s leg a gentle nudge under the table, encouraging him to speak up. 

“It’s nice of you to come over, Hoseok,” he says, all polite smiles and nothing like the Changkyun Minhyuk’s come to know. “And it’s nice to meet you, Kihyun.”

“Thank you for inviting us,” Hoseok says. “And it’s nice that I finally get to meet you, Minhyuk. Changkyun talks about you all the time at work.”

Minhyuk looks to Changkyun, who blushes and avoids his eyes. 

“I would’ve never guessed you’re the same Minhyuk that Kihyun always mentions from his uni days.”

“Kihyun loves me, really, despite all his bad words,” Minhyuk says, giving Kihyun a sickly sweet smile. “Anyway, enough about our past. Hoseok, tell me all about what Changkyun says about me at work.”

* * *

Not long after Hoseok and Kihyun have left, Changkyun pulls Minhyuk into his room, despite Minhyuk’s protests that cuddling can wait and the dishes should be done first, and kisses him all over his face. 

“What’s this for?” Minhyuk asks. 

“For being the best boyfriend ever,” Changkyun says. 

“All I did was argue with Kihyun and make Hoseok embarrass you,” Minhyuk says, but he appreciates Changkyun’s compliment nonetheless, squeezes his hip to give him his thanks even though he doesn’t say so verbally. “Hoseok seems to really like you, anyway, so I don’t know what you were worrying about.”

“I dunno. Maybe I’d say something dumb and lose my job.”

Minhyuk laughs and shakes his head. “You, little pup, have everyone wrapped around your finger and you have no idea.”

Changkyun scrunches up his nose and Minhyuk knows he doesn’t believe him, but it’s the truth. There isn’t a single person who isn’t instantly enamoured by Changkyun, and he’s no exception. 

“I really want some ice cream. Want to go buy some?”

Changkyun’s enthusiastic tail wag gives Minhyuk his answer. 

* * *

**+i.**

A hand on Minhyuk’s forehead brings him out of his slumber. He blinks a few times as his eyes adjust to waking up, and when they do he sees the blurry figure of Changkyun in front of him. 

“Glasses,” he mumbles, his throat dry and sore. 

Changkyun understands what he means and slips his glasses onto his face for him and suddenly everything is a lot clearer for Minhyuk, including the worried look on Changkyun’s face. 

“Why do you look so worried?” As soon as he’s done speaking, Minhyuk breaks off into a cough. 

He feels like shit, he quickly realises. Much worse than he usually does. 

“You haven’t answered your phone in, like, 14 hours and I got worried and then when I came over you didn’t answer so I let myself in, I hope that’s okay. Anyway, your breathing was all weird when I got in so I felt your forehead and you’re burning up.”

“Now you mention it, I do feel pretty damn shitty,” Minhyuk says, like he hadn’t realised that already. But Minhyuk doesn’t enjoy getting sick, he absolutely despises it, in fact (although, who wouldn’t hate getting sick, really?) and so he figures that if he stubbornly tries to convince himself that he’s not sick, then he won’t be sick. 

(He knows it doesn’t work like that, but he’s going to try anyway.)

Being the stubborn person that he is, instead of asking Changkyun to get him a glass of water Minhyuk tries to sit up in bed so that he can go get one himself, but as soon as he does so a wave of nausea hits him and he lies back down in defeat. 

“Can you let me take care of you?” Changkyun asks.

Minhyuk crosses his arms and narrows his eyes at Changkyun, but it doesn’t have the intended effect when he starts coughing a few seconds later. 

“Water?” Changkyun asks. 

Minhyuk nods, still coughing. 

Changkyun leaves and comes back with a glass of water as promised which Minhyuk downs quickly, the cold water soothing his sore throat. 

“Thank you,” he says after finishing off the water. 

Changkyun, frowning, takes a seat on the edge of Minhyuk’s bed. He rests the back of his hand against Minhyuk’s forehead again, the same as he did which woke Minhyuk up, and says, “How did you get so sick?”

Minhyuk shrugs. It’s painful to talk, he’s realising, so it’s easier to just not speak to save his throat. 

“I’ll take care of you,” Changkyun promises. “I’m going to go make you soup.” He nods, probably more to himself than to Minhyuk, then disappears from Minhyuk’s room. 

* * *

Minhyuk spends the whole day drifting in and out of sleep and every second Changkyun sits by his side. 

“You should go home and sleep,” Minhyuk suggests when he sees Changkyun’s eyes fall closed and his head drop for the third time in the last ten minutes. 

Changkyun sits up straighter and shakes his head. “No. I’m taking care of you.”

“I’ll call you if I need you,” Minhyuk insists. (He probably won’t because Changkyun needs some rest after caring for Minhyuk all day, but it’s the only thing he can think to say to convince Changkyun to get some sleep.) “You live next door, it’s not like you’re abandoning me.”

“I can’t believe my own boyfriend is sending me home to my own bed instead of letting me share his,” Changkyun whines. 

Minhyuk rolls his eyes. “I don’t want you to get sick.”

“I’ve been here all day,” Changkyun reminds him. “What difference does it make if I sleep here or in my bed?”

He’s right, but Minhyuk really doubts Changkyun’s going to get much sleep when Minhyuk himself keeps waking up to have coughing fits. 

At the same time, Minhyuk is feeling a bit sorry for himself, and having his boyfriend with him does sound more appealing than sleeping alone for another night. 

“Oh, come on then,” Minhyuk says. He shuffles over and lifts the duvet. 

Changkyun instantly plasters himself to Minhyuk’s side, resting his head on Minhyuk’s chest. The fur on his ears tickles Minhyuk’s chin, but he ignores it, because if Changkyun’s comfy then he’ll deal with anything. 

Minhyuk can see the lazy flicks of Changkyun’s tail as he hums happily against Minhyuk’s chest. “I love you,” Changkyun mumbles, his eyes already closed. 

“I love you, too, little pup.”

Changkyun falls asleep before Minhyuk does, and Minhyuk doesn’t even sleep for long before he wakes up with a tickle in the back of his throat. He ignores the urge to cough, not wanting to wake Changkyun up, and instead spends most of the night awake, suffering with the need to clear his throat. 

But when Changkyun wakes up in the morning and smiles at Minhyuk, Minhyuk can’t find it in himself to care that he’s still sick and only feeling worse with his lack of sleep, because Changkyun’s happiness is his happiness. 

* * *

(Changkyun gets sick only a day later and Minhyuk ends up having to take care of him, even though he insists that Changkyun only has himself to blame. 

He’s whipped, what can he say?)

**Author's Note:**

> kudos & comments appreciated!!!
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)  
> cc: [changkihyks](https://curiouscat.me/changkihyks?t=1559413679/)


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